“I really settled into quilting when I was fifteen at my
school. Our teacher was very interested in that kind of thing” (The Quilters). The
gender roles that start developing at home are often continued at school. Because
of the great amount of time children spend at school, grade teachers frequently
act as caregivers fostering the ongoing “gender education” that parents and
grandparents start at home. For example, Typing was a popular elective class in
my days because young girls could aspire to become secretaries (Welding was
popular amongst young males). Some schools still offer Home Economics classes,
but Drama, Choir, and Cheerleading are the girls favored electives of today. Although
girls are no longer expected to spend their days sewing and quilting –at least
not as much as before—, they are still taught to be the producers at home. The
food-making skill is generally taught to and expected from the girls. This is
not saying that boys don’t cook, but boys don’t have to know how to cook, girls
do. Perhaps everything starts with a woman’s role of life-producer; she is the one
that gives birth, therefore, she is expected to continue with all other
home-making roles.
Practices have changed and, as mentioned by others before,
technology has had a large impact on the way women perform their role in
society, not so much on the role per se. Women are not expected to produce
clothing, but they are expected to consume it. They are the ones that buy the
clothes for the children. Generally, women do the grocery shopping too. If
women work outside the home, they are still expected to perform their women
duties at home.
As far as the artistic production of women, they continue to
produce quilts and many other artifacts that are similarly crafted as a form of
expression. In my opinion, women’s writing is similar to quilting. Women like
to write from experience; to stitch memories together, like Cooper and Bradley
do in The Quilters.
Nora
Nora,
ReplyDeleteThe other day, when I was in the library (procrastinating, of course), I found all the old NMSU yearbooks.
I found the pre-WW II yearbooks the most interesting – especially the one from the 1910s and 1920s. The women who graduated often did so with a degree in Home Economics.
How times have changed.
Hayley
Great title, and great question - what are women expected to produce? Women's roles have be cultured and imposed as the "home-maker." Great post.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. I think that our roles outside the house have changed (we work in many different fields, some not considered "girl" fields), but our roles inside the house are still very similar to those of our grandmothers. We are still expected to raise our children (for the most part, we are the ones doing homework with them, and driving them to their extracurricular activities), to cook, and to do the grocery shopping.
ReplyDeleteNora
Home Economics was required when I was in Jr. High. Thank goodness we have more resources available than our grandmothers, appliances, and easy to prepare food. Killing and plucking a chicken is NOT part of my dinner plans. ( : These time saving devices add to the pressure to be super women though I think.
ReplyDeleteI took typing in high school, Nora. Maybe we're the same generation?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to think of how we define women's production - is it art or skill? Things like cooking and homemaking are usually defined as skill but what of photography or quilting? Aren't they seen as art? I sometimes wonder what role the gender of the producer plays in how we define the act. If a woman cooks in her kitchen she is a cook, but if she does it on TV she is a chef. And most of the world's leading chefs seem to be men - why? Is it the medium in which the craft is displayed (in the family kitchen v. a TV studio or with a quilt covering a bed v. hanging on a museum wall) or is it the one who produced a thing that decides how we value it?